


greater than gravity

by helloearthlings



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, Fluff, M/M, Modern Era, One Night Stands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 23:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11679222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloearthlings/pseuds/helloearthlings
Summary: “If you wanna have sloppy make outs, give me like…half an hour to go back to sleep,” Merlin muttered into his pillow. “If you don’t, cool – but I promise I’ll make you breakfast either way. Just give me like…thirty…maybe forty-five minutes…”





	greater than gravity

**Author's Note:**

> BACK ON BRAND!
> 
> I've been alternating between this and a kidfic for most of my morning, desperately hoping one of them would eventually end up completed. The other one, if I finish it, will be MUCH longer, so this one was the clear winner. I might post something else short in the next couple days, but I have to visit my most conservative relatives starting Friday soooooo little fic will be written then.
> 
> Still, this one's cute and I like it! Please comment if you do, too!

Arthur woke up to rays of sunlight.

 _My windows have curtains,_ he thought blearily once he had the capacity to, and that was when the sharp pain shot through his head.

“Mmm,” Arthur turned to bury his head into his pillow, only to realize that whatever he had just buried his face into was not in fact a pillow and was instead someone else’s shoulder.

Arthur blinked lazily, the room slowly coming into focus, the aching in his head not making the process any easier.

“Hi,” the man next to him said in a voice that suggested his head was feeling equally as hazy. Arthur squinted in his direction. Dark messy, hair, day-old stubble, rather unfortunate ears, skinny but with nice biceps – at least he looked familiar enough.

“Hi,” Arthur, much to his disgust, tried to sit up and then, feeling nauseous, laid right back down. It was then that he noticed he was still fully clothed, jeans uncomfortably tight. “Um…Sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

The previous night was coming back in flashes now – Morgana had wanted to go out and pull, Leon and Arthur tagged along for the hell of it. Morgana found a pretty girl and left with her when Arthur had about three drinks in him. Tall, dark, and handsome asked him to dance not long after. They had done a few shots together.

Apparently they’d stumbled home together, too, but judging by the fact that the other man still had on his t-shirt as well, they hadn’t been able to pull off actually having sex.

“Merlin,” the man said, not even attempting to sit up, instead turning to his side to, presumably, talk to Arthur. Arthur, who wasn’t really into the whole _moving around_ thing right now, settled for turning his head.

Merlin smiled at him, eyes still heavy with sleep but with a certain air to them as if Merlin were about to mock him. Arthur remembered he’d been a little snarky last night. “Uh...Arnold? Am I close?”

“In letters, maybe,” Arthur made a scoffing sound. “But hardly in style. It’s Arthur.”

“Arnold does sound like a hamster’s name,” Merlin said, eyes closing with a light smile, and Arthur couldn’t help but laugh. Who said things like that? “Though Arthur sounds a bit like a grandpa’s name.”

“Your name is _Merlin_ ,” Arthur felt the need to point out. “ _Who_ names their child Merlin?”

“I did tend to get made fun of in primary school,” Merlin chuckled under his breath. “Mm. Are you feeling better? You were throwing up last night.”

“You can remember last night?” Arthur snorted incredulously. “It’s all coming back in spurts to me.”

“I think I was slightly more sober than you,” Merlin, to Arthur’s surprise, reached a hand out to pat Arthur’s clumsily. “Sober enough to push you off when you tried to make out with me. S’why clothes are still on. Not that kind of one night stander.”

“Oh,” Arthur said, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Um. Thanks.”

“If you wanna have sloppy make outs, give me like…half an hour to go back to sleep,” Merlin muttered into his pillow. “If you don’t, cool – but I promise I’ll make you breakfast either way. Just give me like…thirty…maybe forty-five minutes…”

“You can’t seriously already be asleep,” Arthur stared down at Merlin, whose eyes only twitched slightly in response, lightly snuffling in a way that was decidedly not cute.

Arthur stared for another second, and it definitely wasn’t because he was cute.

Then he put a pillow over his face to block out the sunlight.

* * *

 

“Hey.”

There was a poke at Arthur’s shoulder and he groaned. The pillow over his head was too hot and stifling, and he moved a heavy arm to throw it away from him, only to have it shoved ungraciously back in his face.

“Good morning to you, too,” a voice said with a laugh, and then Arthur remembered that he was not, in fact, at home, and is not a one night stand partner was still here.

He blinked up at Merlin. Merlin's hair was neater now that he was out of bed, but it still stuck up at an odd angle in the back. Arthur kind of wanted to brush it down with his hand, but resisted the urge. He definitely looked more awake, though that might be due to the coffee in his hand that he offered Arthur.

Arthur sat up, chugging the hot, bitter liquid, hoping it would fend off the remnants of his hangover.

“I was gonna ask if you wanted sugar, but I see now that sugar is for the weak,” Merlin blinked at him amusedly. “Um, so about the thirty minutes thing – it’s been a little longer. We’re past noon now.”

“Really?” Arthur squinted up at him, but then again, the sunlight was rather harsh now, filtering through the blinds at a much higher intensity than it had the first time he’d awoken.

“Hope you didn’t have time-sensitive plans,” Merlin said awkwardly and Arthur shook his head.

“I try not schedule things when I know I’m gonna get smashed the night before,” Arthur said, “though I didn’t realize just _how_ smashed I was going to get. Um, I’m really sorry about…well, everything, but…”

Merlin waved him off. “Come on. I made eggs. It’s one of the only four things I know how to make, so you’ll have to tell me if they’re any good.”

Arthur stumbled out of the room after him, drinking his coffee as he went. Merlin’s flat ended up being pretty decently sized if messy, especially in the kitchen area, where flour and bits of egg were spilled on the counter.

“I’m not a _clean_ chef by any means,” Merlin noticed Arthur looking at the spot of egg.

“It’s gonna bother me,” Arthur said, grabbing a rag off of the kitchen sink and disgruntledly scrubbing away at the dried egg.

“OCD much?” Merlin said with a chuckle, but Arthur nodded.

“Diagnosed and everything,” he said with what he hoped was a cheeky grin. “Need anything color-coded or numerically-ordered? That’s what I live for.”

“Shit,” Merlin said with a shake of his head. “I’m the worst at trying to make jokes. Here, I _did_ actually make eggs. Over easy. With toast – number three on my list of things I know how to make.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow at him, but when he took a bite of the egg, was surprised to find it rather good. He gave Merlin a thumbs up.

“I hope you can actually cook more than four things,” Arthur told him, “toast included.”

“A _few_ more,” Merlin acknowledged. “I’m hyperbolic in nature.”

Merlin, bless his soul, poured more coffee into Arthur’s cup. Arthur drank it greedily.

“This is good – Guatemalan?” He asked. Merlin blinked at him.

“I have no idea,” Merlin looked as if he were holding in a laugh. “But asking if coffee is Guatemalan as if you can taste the difference in the beans is the hallmark of pretentious asses everywhere, so I’d work on that.”

“I’m not a pretentious ass,” Arthur defended himself.

“That shirt’s not Armani, then?” Merlin blinked faux-innocently at him. Arthur glared back.

“Glad we didn’t sleep together,” Arthur sniped, half under his breath. “Too judgmental for my tastes, _thank you_.”

“Too pretentious for my tastes, _thank you_ ,” Merlin stuck his tongue out in Arthur’s direction. Arthur tried not to smile. Valiantly tried not to smile. Effort was really put into it.

“So do you wanna do something?” Merlin asked a second later, a crooked smile on his face. “I mean, besides sloppily make out – still on the table, by the way. But maybe you’d want to…I don’t know, go on a picnic? To a museum? The zoo? Roller-skating?”

Arthur gave him a quizzical look that wasn’t without its affection. “You’re so weird. Is this how you ask people out? What’s wrong with dinner and movie?”

Merlin shrugged. “Too boring. I’m not a boring person – I try to let people know that as soon as I can, so they don’t get scared off later.”

“Um,” Arthur said, faltering  a little under a flirty raised eyebrow from Merlin’s. “Roller-skating, then.”

Merlin made a face at him. “Fuck. Typically, you’d choose the thing in the world that I’m worst it.”

“You were the one who suggested it!” Arthur pointed out, taking another bite of his egg. God, that was good. Merlin couldn’t be as awful of a cook as he’d claimed to be.

“Because, as I stated, I like to let people know what I’m _about_ ,” Merlin started, fixing Arthur with a stare, and Arthur had the feeling it would be awhile until he finished. Oddly enough, he was endeared by it. “Picnics are because I’m soppy like that. Museums are because I’m a history buff and can woo you with all of my intricate knowledge about fifth century beheading styles. Zoos because I love animals and will be getting a cat as soon as I live in a less stupid, animal-friendly building. And roller-skating because I’m the single-most clumsy person in the entire world and I want to put that on the table _right away_.”

“Are you suggesting it so that you can fall dramatically into my arms and I can catch you?” Arthur figured that as long as the teasing flirting was going to continue, he could give as good as he got.

Merlin, to his delight, turned a shade pinker. “More like I’m very endearing when I flail. As is everyone, I think. And bear in mind that _you’re_ much more hungover than _I_ am and you are equally as likely to fall into _my_ arms, thank you very much. Most likely is that we’ll fall on top of each other and end up in the A&E, but that is _infinitely_ more interesting than going to see some lame-ass movie, wouldn’t you agree?”

“You’re an odd duck,” Arthur told him with an incredulous head shake, wondering how he started yesterday by going into the office, the most Single Single Person to ever Single, and now he was here, having weird, flirty banter with someone he hardly knew.

“I do think I need to know your last name first,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes, “and maybe some basic information, such as…like…if I’m still in London or if your flat is in some interdimensional time loop. That would be important to know.”

“Oh, you’re such a nerd,” Merlin regarded him with an expression that was somehow both delighted and pitying. “I bet you watched that Doctor Who announcement live, didn’t you?”

“Didn’t _you_?” Arthur shot back with a raise of his eyebrows and Merlin laughed.

“Point taken,” Merlin shook his head ruefully. “I’m not avoiding your question. My last name’s Emrys. I’m from a village in Wales called Ealdor. I work in the A&E as a junior doctor – so if we do end up needing medical attention, I _do_ know some people – I can’t cook, I’m terribly clumsy, and fall asleep at inopportune times. I don’t usually pull, but my insane friends Gwaine and Ellie took me out last night much to my chagrin, and I’m pretty damn grateful they did. Because you’re really cute. Especially when you blush.”

Arthur, who hadn’t realized he had been blushing, hid his face behind his coffee mug. “Unfair. Stop being smooth.”

“If you think that’s smooth, I’m going to be able to impress you _so easily_ ,” Merlin pumped his fist slowly and Arthur couldn’t help but laugh. “Your turn. I also feel like I need to know your last name. Just in case you’re a creepy pervert and I need to report you to the police.”

“Arthur _Pendragon_ ,” Arthur told him, lip curling as if it were some great burden to let go of any personal information. Which, with most people, it was. Arthur wondered why Merlin wasn’t most people. “I work for my father in a law firm. I bought him a World’s Best Boss mug instead of a World’s Best Dad mug, but either way, they’d be lies. I’m a workaholic with OCD who doesn’t really like breaks from routine, but I feel like last night might’ve been worth it, too.”

Arthur faltered, unused to being so candid with virtual strangers. Merlin, however, just grinned crookedly at him.

“ _Gorgeous_ when you blush.”

Arthur really hoped he stopped blushing at some point that day. His face was unaccustomed to it, that was all. There was something faulty going on in his system – the alcohol’s fault, naturally.

Or Merlin’s. Possibly Merlin’s.

“Go borrow some of my clothes,” Merlin jerked his head back toward the bedroom. “We can go roller-skating and then, barring injury, we can sloppily make out.”

“Can we sloppily make out first?” Arthur said, rising to his feet, determined to be something that he was on the ball about if this was actually going to be a relationship and not just the weirdest morning he’d ever had. “You know, just in case.”

“I like where your head’s at,” Merlin said as Arthur crossed the room to kiss him.


End file.
